A young Chinese boy was sitting all alone on the sidewalk in front of a store in a poor part of Chicago. It was a hot, sultry day, and Mr. Jackson, who was waiting for his friend on the opposite corner, noticed how hot, sweaty and sad the Chinese boy on the sidewalk looked. I wonder if an ice cream cone would cheer him up? thought Mr. Jackson.
He glanced at his watch. He still had a few minutes before his friend would arrive to pick him up. He hurried into the corner store and bought a big ice cream cone and went over and offered it to the hot, sweaty boy. “Would you like to have an ice cream cone on such a hot day?”
But the Chinese boy wasn’t too sure about it. Apparently he had only recently arrived in the United States. He knew only a very few English words and evidently had never tasted ice cream. The boy just turned his head away and said, “No!”
Mr. Jackson was not easily put off. He offered the cone again, but the boy was not going to take that strange looking thing from a stranger. Mr. Jackson was puzzled. Finally, with a quick push, he tried to jab it in the boy’s mouth, but the boy ducked and ended up with a patch of ice cream on the end of his nose. In just a few moments the ice cream melted and slid down into his mouth.
What do you think happened then? The thirsty boy looked up with a big smile and said just one word: “More!” With a hearty laugh, Mr. Jackson handed him the whole cone and then hurried over to meet his friend.
The Lord Jesus is offering us a wonderful gift too: salvation from our sins and a home with Him in heaven. Are you turning away from the Lord Jesus? Have you turned away from His gifts? He is watching you with a loving heart as you read this story, and He wants to win you for Himself. I’m sure you don’t know how wonderful it is to have Jesus as your very own Saviour, just as our Chinese friend didn’t know how wonderful an ice cream cone tasted on a hot day. But when he had a taste, he said, “More!” And those of us who know the Lord Jesus as our Saviour have found Him to be everything that we need or want. As we walk with Him and accept His Word into our hearts, we receive more and more of Him and His gifts of love.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Psalm 34:8).
ML-06/26/2005